Pneumatic railway-gate.



PATENTED AUG. 2, 1904.

P. B. WILSON.

PNEUMATIC RAILWAY GATE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 18, 1903.

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H0 MODEL.

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P. E., WILSON.

PNEUMATIC RAILWAY GATE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 18, 1903 N0 MODEL.

FRANK E. VILSON, OF LITHOPOLIS,

Patented August 2, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

OHIO. ASSIMNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO J.'B. KRAMER. OF LANCASTER, Ol'llO.

PNEUMATIC RAILWAY-GATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 766,405, dated August2, 1904.

A pli ati n fil d November 18, 1903. Serial N0 181,724. (No model.)

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Be it known that L'FRANK E. \VILsoN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Lithopo lis, in the county of Eairlield and State of Ohio,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in PneumaticRailway-Hates, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that type of railway-gates normally closingroad-crossings 5 and adapted for automatic operation by ap proachingtrains, so as to be thrown across the roadway to shut off the traffic asthe train passes.

The gates are pneumatically operated, airconduits being providedintermediate the tracks and extending some distance from the gates, andoperating means for supplying air to the conduit is also provided forthe purpose of the invention. nicate with cylinders adjacent the gatesand pistons Within the cylinders are operated, beingconnccted bysuitable means with the gates, so as to be actuated to throw the gatesclosed 1 across the track at the crossing or open.

For a full description of the invention and the merits thereofand alsoto acquirea knowledge of the details of construction of the means foreffecting the result reference is to be had to the following descriptionand drawings hereto attached.

\Vhile the essential and characteristic features of the invention aresusceptible of modii fication, still the preferred embodiment of theinvention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figurel is a perspcctive view showing the application of the invention. Fig. 2is a top plan view showing the operating connections more clearly. Fig.3 is a partial sectional view through the operating means for supplyingair to the conduit and the cylinder carrying the operatingpistons. Fig.I is a broken view showing the manner of connecting the gates forsimultaneous operation.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the sameand the railroml-track 2.

The conduits commui reference characters. I

In the drawings the road is designated 1 Gates 3 span the track 2 at therozul-crossing, being suitably mounted upon gateposts 4; for a pivotalor swinging movement across the track of the road in the operationthereof. The gates 3 are disposed in pairs, as before mentioned, and areadapted for a swinging movement common to the track and the road uponactu ation of the operating means. The gates serve as cattle-guards whenin their normal position across the track. being of special advantagefor this purpose. Situated at a distance from the gates and aboutintermediate of the track-rails are several operating mechanisms bywhich the gates are operated. The means aforesaid comprises a pluralityof cylinders 5, which are mounted in suitable casings 6 upon either sideof the road-crossing, the cylinders being inclined, as shown, andsituated adjacent each other. Each cylinder has a piston T movabletherein, each of the said pistons having a toothed piston rod 8extending therefrom. The pistons T are actuated by toothed segmentswhich cooperate with the toothed piston-rodsS in a manner readilycomprehended. The segments 9 are pivoted by means of pins 11) betweenthe sides of the casing 6 and are weighted at their lower portions, asshown at 11. so as to normally hold the trip-bars 12, which extendtherethrough in an upright or approximately vertical position. Thetrip-bars 12 may be either integrally or otherwise formed with thesegments 9, as found most suitable in the practicable manufacture of thesame. A conduit 13 is disposed beneath the cylinders 5 and ports 1% leadfrom the cylinders to the conduit 13, the air being thus forced from thecylinders by the pistons 7 into the conduit, which latter communicateswith a cylinder 15, which carries the piston 16, connected directly withone pair of gates. The piston 16, which operates in the cylinders 15. isprovided with a tubular piston-rod 17,

1 which is connected by flexible connections 18 to arms 19, carried bythe gates adjacent the pivoted ends thereof. The arms 19 extendlaterally from the gates, the outer ends of the respective arms beingsecured to the connections 18 aforesaid. So that the gates maybesimultaneously operated, the outer ends of the respective arms 19 of onepair of gates are connected to the inner ends of the respective arms ofthe opposite pair of gates, so that actuation of one of the connections18 by operation of the piston 16 will effect the synchronous movement ofthe gates. tions 18 pass about pulleys 20, mounted in any substantialmanner. The sets of cylinders 5 are of course situated upon the oppositesides of the respective gates, which they are designed to operate.

It will be seen that operation of the connections 18 by one of thepistons 16 will cause a certain amount of slack in the connections 18 ofthe oppositely-disposed piston, and in order to take up this slack thepiston-rods 17 are made tubular and receive coupling-bars 21. Thecoupling-bars 21 are provided with slots 22, and a pin 23 passes throughthe slotted portion of the coupling-bars and the piston-rod of eachpiston 16, securing the coupling-bars 21 thereto and limiting themovement of the said bars. The couplingbars 21 are normally held in theposition shown in Fig. 3 by the taut connection 18, but should any slackoccur in this connection alight coil-spring 24: is adapted to force thecoupling-bar 21 outward, so as to take up the slack.

To permit the gates 3 to resume their normal position across the trackafter a train has passed, trip-levers 25 are situated adjacent thetrip-bars 12 and intermediate the trackrails, said trip-levers beinglocated between trip-bars 12 and the gates. After the tripbars have beenoperated by the approaching train and the gates thrown into an openposition across the roadway the trip-lever 25 is also operated by thetrain, and this lever is connected by the rod 26to valve means 27,controlling the air-outlet 28, leading from the cylinder 16. hen thetrip-levers 25 are actuated, the valve means 27, connected to therespective levers, is likewise operated to permit the air to escape fromthe conduits 13, and the pressure being removed from the piston 16 thegates will be permitted to close across the track, resuming their normalposition.

Specifically describing the operation of the invention, a trainapproaching from the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1 andprovided with any suitable trip throwing means, such as inclined shoes29, (shown in Fig. 3,) will operate the trip-bars 12 and the pistons 7and force air into the conduit 13, thus actuating the connection 18 ofone of the gates. The sets of gates are thus simultaneously thrownacross the roadway, the slack in the connection 18 of the opposite setof gates being taken up, as before described, by the spring 2 1,actuating the coupling-bar 21. In order that only one piston 16 may beoperated by the passing train, the toothed portions of the segments feach set of bars are formed The connecmal positions acrossthe track.

so that as the trip-bars are actuated away from the gates the toothedportions of the segments will not engage the toothed pistonrods 8, andthus the pistons '7 will not move.

The valve means 27 is operated as the train passes, being opened topermit the air to escape, and the gates are restored to their nor-Springs 50 are connected to the levers 25 by which the valve means 27are operated, and these springs return the levers 25 to their normalposition after the train has passed and the air has escaped from thecylinder 15.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is 1. Thecombination with gates, of cylinders arranged upon opposite sides of thegates, pistons movable in said cylinders, means for actuating saidpistons, connecting means between the pistons and the gates, independentvalve means adjacent the cylinders aforesaid, independent actuatorsdisposed upon opposite sides of the gates, and connecting means be tweenthe said actuator and the remote valve means.

2. The combination with gates, of cylinders arranged upon opposite sidesof said gates, pistons disposed in said cylinders, connecting meansbetween the gates and the pistons, independent trip mechanisms foractuation of the pistons in the cylinders, valves disposed upon thecylinders, independent trip-levers arranged upon opposite sides of thegates,

and connecting means between said trip-levers and the valves of thecylinders for actuation of the latter.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination withhorizontally-swinging gates arranged in pairs upon opposite sides of acrossing, of arms extended laterally from said gates, cylinders, pistonsmovable within the cylinders, connecting means between the respectivepistons and respective arms of the gates, other connecting means betweenthe arms of the respective gates causing simultaneous operation of theopposite pairs of gates, conduits communicating with the cylindersaforesaid, and means for forcing air through the said conduits to causeactuation of the pistons in the cylinders.

4:. In a device of the class described, the combination with gates, ofcylinders, pistons disposed within the cylinders, connecting meansbetween the pistons and the gates, conduits communicating with therespective cylinders, cylinders disposed adjacent the conduits andcommunicating therewith, pistons movable in the last-mentionedcylinders, and trip-bars disposed adjacent the said pistons foractuation thereof to force air through the conduits.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination with gates, ofcylinders, pistons disposed within the cylinders, connecting meansbetween the pistons and the gates to effect simultaneous operation ofthe gates, conduits extending from the cyllnders aforesaid, othercvlinders disposed ad acent the conduits and leading thereto, pistonsarranged in the last-mentioned cylinders and provided with toothedpiston-rods, toothed segments for actuation of the last-mentionedpistons, and tripbars extended from the said segments.

6. In a device of the class described, the combination with gatesarranged upon opposite sides of a crossing, of cylinders, pistonsarranged in said cylinders, connecting means between the pistons and thegates for simultaneous operation of the gates, conduits extending fromthe cylinders aforesaid, other cylinders disposed adjacent the conduitsand connected with the conduits, pistons movable in the last-mentionedcylinders and provided with toothed piston-rods, toothed segmentscooperating with the toothed piston-rods to effect operation of thepistons carried thereby, trip-bars extended from the toothed segments,and weight means for restoring the segments to their normal positionafter actuation thereof.

7. The combination with gates, of cylinders arranged upon opposite sidesof said gates, pistons, means for actuating the pistons, piston-rodsextended from said pistons, springactuated coupling-bars carried by thepistonrods, and connecting means between the gates and thespring-actuated coupling-bars.

b. The combination with gates, of cylinders arranged upon opposite sidesof said gates, pistons movable in said cylinders and provided withtubular piston-rods, trip mechanisms for actuation of said pistons,spring-actuated coupling-bars movable in the tubular piston-rods,connections between the springactuated coupling-bars and the gates, andother connections between the gates for simultaneous operation thereof.

9. in a device of the class described, the combination with gates, ofconduits, pistons disposed in cylinders adjacent to said conduits,connecting means between said pistons and the gates, other cylindersadjacent to and communicating with the distant ends of the conduits,pistons located in said cylinders, actuating-segments cooperating withthe last-mentioned pistons, and trip-bars for operation of saidsegments.

in testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK E. \VILSON, [L. s]

\Vitnesses:

C. E. KRAMER, ERNEST Tans.

